Weekly market recap: September 28 – October 2, 2026

This is the first issue of our new weekly series: how the week went on the US market — sectors, the largest halal stocks and how our signals did. All changes are from the close on Friday, September 25, to the close on Friday, October 2.

Indices

S&P 500: 7,743 → 7,723, −0.27%
Nasdaq Composite: 27,069 → 27,191, +0.45%
Dow Jones: 51,829 → 51,177, −1.26%
Russell 2000 (small caps): 2,838 → 2,833, −0.16%
VIX (the "fear index"): 14.9 → 15.3

The week opened with a slide: the S&P 500 fell every day from Monday to Wednesday, recovered slightly on Thursday, and closed Friday +0.7%, recouping most of the weekly loss. As a result the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended positive while the Dow stayed negative.

Source: Yahoo Finance and Yahoo quotes, after the October 2 close.

Key events of the week

Jobs report (Friday). According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added only 29,000 jobs in September and unemployment rose to 4.2%. July and August were revised down by a combined 60,000. Source: BLS, Employment Situation. Per Yahoo Finance, analysts had expected about 84,000.

Bond yields are high. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose from 5.17% on September 25 to 5.29% on September 30. Source: Federal Reserve, H.15. High yields usually weigh on stock valuations — especially for companies valued on their future earnings.

Macro numbers don't say "buy" or "sell" by themselves. They only help explain the market's mood.

Sectors (SPDR sector ETFs, week)

Gainers:

Technology (XLK): +1.8%
Energy (XLE): +1.5%
Utilities (XLU): +0.8%

Decliners:

Health care (XLV): −2.6%
Financials (XLF): −2.5%
Communication services (XLC): −2.3%

Other assets: gold (GLD) −3.4%, silver (SLV) −5.9% — both fell mostly on Monday. Oil (USO) −0.7%, the dollar (UUP) +0.9%. ETFs marketed as Shariah-compliant: SPUS +0.5%, HLAL +0.3%.

The 50 largest halal stocks

Our public halal stocks list shows the 50 largest stocks by market capitalisation (as of October 2). Their week: 24 rose, 26 fell, median −0.2%. In other words, even the biggest names on the "halal" list moved with the market.

Top gainers — mostly chip equipment and cybersecurity:

Top decliners:

Qualcomm (QCOM) — −8.5%
Seagate (STX) — −7.4%
AstraZeneca (AZN) — −5.8%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) — −5.6%

The halal status of stocks on the list can change — check each one's current status on its page.

The halal list

As of the evening of October 2 our screener rated 1,418 stocks halal (live counter: methodology). We don't publish weekly additions and removals yet — they're covered in detail in the monthly series: September 2026: stocks that left and joined the halal list.

Our signals this week

This week (September 28 – October 2) the scanner issued 30 signals. As of the evening of October 2:

18 closed: 8 wins, 10 losses, average result −0.14%;
12 still open;
the best was DMRC, +11.75% (third target); next was EVCM, +8.5%;
5 signals closed at the full −5% stop-loss.

This was a weak week, and we're not hiding it. One week isn't statistics: judge results over the long run. Every signal, losers included: track record. How to read the numbers: What a signal is and isn't.

A short "Market close" summary is posted after every trading day on our Telegram channel. The next weekly recap — at the end of next week.

This article is for information only, not investment advice. Past results do not guarantee future results.

Stocks mentioned in this article